Haliru Akilu

He later attended Junior Staff College, Warminister (1973), Pakistan Command and Staff College (1979), King's College London (1983), and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru (1989).

Akilu later joined the Directorate of Military Intelligence. As a lieutenant colonel, he took part from the conceptual stages of the 1983 military coup d'état which ousted the Second Nigerian Republic and installed to power Major-General Muhammadu Buhari.[3] He replaced General Aliyu Gusau as Director of Military Intelligence; and played a key role in the 1985 military coup d'état, which overthrew Muhammadu Buhari.[4] Following the coup, General Babangida (then Chief of Army Staff) exploited his closeness to Akilu and other graduates of the NDA's Regular Course 3 (Babangida was an NDA instructor in the early 70s).[5]

Akilu was strategically placed in the DMI as counterweight to Ambassador Mohammed Lawal Rafindadi, General Muhammadu Buhari’s ally in the national security structure.[6][7] Akilu's role in the Directorate of Military Intelligence served as counter-intelligence to the National Security Organisation. Akilu played a major coordinating role as (Director of Military Intelligence) in the 1985 military coup d'état that ousted the military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and brought to power General Ibrahim Babangidaa.[8] Akilu and Babangida have a close relationship in that Akilu's wife and Maryam Babangida are cousins.[9][10]

Akilu was a member of the Armed Forces Ruling Council from 1989 to 1993. Akilu worked alongside General Aliyu Gusau in reorganising the security and intelligence apparatuses, in order to consolidate power for the military regime. National Security Organisation was broken into three organisations: State Security Services (SSS), National Intelligence Agency (NIA); and the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) where he served as twice from August 1985 to July 1986 and January 1990 to September 1990.[11]

Akilu was believed to have played a controversial role in the assassination of Dele Giwa. He was accused of having spoken with Dele Giwa's wife and received his home address. Giwa later received a parcel from two men with the inscription – "From the office of the C-in-C" and was marked "secret and confidential" – opening the parcel, an explosion occurred and Dele Giwa was subsequently killed, investigations were conducted into the assassination but the murder remains unsolved.[12] The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Nigeria in Colonel Haliru Akilu vs. Chief Gani Fawehinmi.[13]